Home studio recordings

Always the last to know.
The Del Amitri classic, performed live at home, off-the-cuff during the 2020 lock-down. Originally shared on Facebook and Twitter. Acoustic guitar and vocal by Ian Edmundson

Baba O'Riley.
My own take on the Who classic. Pleased with this one. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Best Of Friends.
One of my own songs from the 1980's. All situational bitterness and angst. A true story. I listened to too much Elvis Costello. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Better Than No Love At All (version 4).
A co-write with Graham Fielden for the Three's album. This is the fourth version, which starts wioth a chorus at Graham's suggestion, which meant re-recording the song. Graham judged it to be slightly fast, which I agree with, but I do like the energy of this version of the song.
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Can't get enough.
The song was originally recorded by the excellent Suede and is from their album HEAD MUSIC, which I can really recommend. I originally submitted the song to an old band for doing. The other two, knowing very little about music and having no imagination at all, hadn't actually ever heard of Suede. I decided to do a fairly basic version and play it myself as a trio. It's the first song that I recorded entirely using the new 24 track set-up, plus my new Ric 4003W (through a BOSS B2 pedal). I also played my Gibson Les Paul, put through all sorts of pedals. Recorded 29th October 2015. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Change.
Sparks' Ron Mael is a genius. Unique as songs go and I liked it since first hearing it and as soon as I had the capability I got on with recording this version. It was started in the 1990's  and I got a full mix of that recording onto cassette which was used for a video. That copy was my only mix and I never actually got it back from the video producer. I was furious. He didn't give a toss. I located some of my old work and re-recorded half of it again, including a cello part - finished in January 2014. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Cold Cold Heart (master mix 7)
This song was co-written with Graham Fielden for The Three's album. Drums by Graham Fielden. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Coz I luv you
A cheeky 'Noddy Holder Beat Combo' addition to a studio acoustic version. Additional instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Dirty Laundry.
The Don Henley classic. I held off recording this for a long time, because I was put off by replicating the original guitar solo. In the end, I just gave up and made up my own entirely different solo. July - October 2015. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Don't dream it's over.
I have really liked this Crowded House song for quite a long time. This home demo recording was meant to be another collaboration with Dave Disley. It went through being recorded in several keys to suit him before we finally agreed it would be an utter pig to sing. Having done lots of work on it, I thought I would finish a version off as best I could. The vocals on this are rather noticeably strained, as I have lost an amount of range since my thyroid op. I did want Dave to put more acoustic guitars on it for a bigger sound, but that didn't happen. There ws the intention to revisit it before Dave Disley sadly passed away in 2023... I might, possibly.... maybe. Late 2015. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Don't Look 'Em In The Eye (demo)
Co-written with Graham Fielden for The Three's album. I added some lyrical details of how a couple of chancers decided to extort money from me for running one of them over outside our jam night venue. Unfortunately for them, it was all caught on CCTV. The Police wanted to prosecute them, but it would have caused more problems for the band, so I left it alone. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Eaten by the Monster Of Love.
Written by Ron Mael - Originally recorded by Sparks. The world doesn't seem to get the Sparks joke, which is really sad. They have come up with 21 albums full of the wittiest and funniest songs, totally unlike anyone else.The great thing about being a Sparks fan is knowing that everyone else is wrong. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Every Time I See Her.
I picked this song up off a Dave Edmunds album. Gibson SGII (lead guitar), Fender Precision Lyte bass and MadDog Telecaster. Recorded 5.7.2016. This version remixed 6.7.2016. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Everyday.
A Slade song. Originally done as a waltz. Not the way I do it. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Gallows Pole.
Traditional English folk song, made most famous by Led Zeppelin. Converted to blues from Hey-nonny-no. Re-recorded for the Black Cat Bone Led Zeppelin tribute CD in 2016. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Get down.
Recorded for the Black Cat Bone 'Guilty Pleasures' compilation CD. Originally recorded by the hugely under-rated Gilbert O'Sullivan. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Hey Joe.
Featuring Dave Disley on lead vocal, piano and acoustic guitar. This track was recorded as we have both bought the same 24 track unit and wanted to get familiar with it. I played my Rickenbacker 4003W bass, lead guitar on a Gibson Les Paul through various effects and did the harmony backing vocals. Not a bad result for an afternoon's work. November 2015.

I believe in you.
Recorded at Toys In The Attic studio, Bolton. Recorded for the Black Cat Bone Neil Young Harvest compilation CD. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

I can't put my finger on it.
Recorded in May and June 2020. Really called 'There's A Hole In My Soul'. Inspired by another track by a former 70's popstar that never appeared, despite much promising... This track saw me using a Gibson SG for both rhythm guitars and a Les Paul with an Ebow type string annoyer. Fender Precision Lyte bass. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

I Hate Christmas (visual demo)
Recording for the Three's album. Co-written with Graham Fielden. Video recorded at the Workhouse Studio.
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

I kissed a girl (and I liked it).
June 8th 2019. Recorded at The Workhouse Studio, Bolton. The sumptuous Cathy Dennis classic, reduced to trio format. Gibson Les Paul and Fender Jazz Bass. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

I need you.
One of my favourite Beatles songs - written by George Harrison. This shows - like a fair number of the rest of these videos do - that there's no point in just doing a carbon copy of a song. If you want to hear the song as it is on the record, play the record.
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

I'll never get over you (first attempt).
I filmed the recording of the vocal and bass part while I was doing it on this occasion. The lyric sheet I was working from had some words missing, so I quickly dumped this version. However, I quite like the feel of this 'bass and drums' version, as it's got a lot of space in it. I could use my voice more as an instrument at this point. I repeated the process for the finished track in the video above, which has the correct lyrics. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson. July 2015

I'll never get over you.
A John Hiatt song. This is quite different from the original, from the 2001 album 'The Tiki Bar is open'. I played bass, guitar and cello on this track. This is the second version of the song (see below). July 2015. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

In for a penny.
Another Slade song. A fairly faithful version, too, except that I did the guitar solo with a piccolo sound on a synth and built up the keyboard parts. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

John I'm only dancing.
The David Bowie song, re-recorded for the Black Cat Bone Bowie compilation CD. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Let's spend the night together // Sex.
Made famous by The Rolling Stones and Paul Young. Recorded for a BCB compilation CD. If you're going to re-record a cover, at least do it differently. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Loudest party in Hell (demo).
A last minute demo submitted for the 'Beyond Belief' EP. It has totally random madly effect-laden guitar parts, played one at a time, with the previous parts muted to stop me just playing along with what was already on tape, over a great distorted bass part and drums. When the band went in the studio, the singer didn't want an instrumental on the EP, so I was obliged to write some words for it. I came up with some awful cacky faux-disco type words in an attempt to shame him into leaving it as an instrumental. Despite the absolutely obvious (and quite deliberate) awfulness of the lyrics, he didn't flinch from singing them. The title totally reflects the joke lyrics. This is the version that was probably meant to be. Recorded in one session at Toys In The Attic. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Love is lying.
This is another excellent Colin Berry song dating from the Peppermint Dream period. Though I have some good live and rehearsal takes on tape, this is my own recording from the late 90's. This is the one time Colin asked me to collaborate on a song, as he usually came with quite perfectly formed ideas. I came up with the arrangement for the instrumental buildup and the vamp, just before the last verse - the main song is all his, though. He wrote some very good tunes. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Lucky me, lucky you.
Featuring the inestimable vocal talents of the delightful Miss Sindy Goodbody, courtesy of Miss Prim's Finishing School For Innocent Catholic Schoolgirls. A little known gem from the collective pens of Ron and Russell Mael, both halves of the excellent Sparks. All instruments, vocals and production by Ian Edmundson. Featured on the 'WHOMP THAT COVER' Sparks tribute CD in 2018.

Never turn your back on Mother Earth.
Another tremendous Sparks song, re-recorded late 90's. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

OPUS #1 FOR MARIMBA.
One of the two b-side tracks from the 'Thanks for the memory' cassette EP by Go Crazy. Recorded at Toys In The Attic Studio 1990. All instruments and production / mix by Ian Edmundson.

Pictures of matchstick men.
Recorded for the 1967 Black Cat Bone compilation in June 2012. Thank you Quo. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson. Drums programmed by Peter Makin.

Run Runaway.
I put this cover version recording forward as a rough demo mix for a project in 2002. I have located a backing track version and will re-record the vocals. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

She Said (version 1)
She Said (version 2)
Recording for the Three's album. Co-written with Graham Fielden.
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Sir.
Written with Phil Smith (he did the lyrics and I put them to music) as one of a number of songs for his band Torn Dreams in 1985. This is the quick demo that I did for them to show them how the song went. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Sleep instead of teardrops.
A Justin Currie song, performed originally by Del Amitri. In an obvious act of career suicide, they left the best song the had written for the Some Other Suckers Parade album as a b-side to a single that didn't do very well. Until Justin Currie recently started performing the song in his own shows, the song languished in an un-deserved state fo obscurity. This was recorded in November 2016 for the 'Pasted Beyond Recognition' charity album in aid of SpinaBifida Research Scotland. Fan musicians were invited to submit songs for consideration. Sniffing a golden opportunity to get more recordings released and to look worthy for CHARIDEE, the Big Boys and Signed Acts came along and predictably edged all the unsigned fan musicians out, one by one. It did, however, make it onto the download alternative collection 'We All Sing Along Like Before'. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Son of my father.
This is the old Chicory Tip hit, as reimagined as if Status Quo had suddenly been allowed to sneak into the studio and beef it up a bit. I am particularly pleased with the keyboard solos, which I am pointing out because they took me absolutely ages to do. Another one started in the 1990's and partly re-recorded in January 2014. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Thanks for Christmas.
XTC released this under a pseudonym to see if they could get a sniff at the charts with it. Perfect tasteful pop music, so it never stood a chance. Recorded for the Black Cat Bone Christmas compilation CD. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

The Cross.
This song was recorded in 1987, after the release of Prince's excellent 'Sign 'O' The Times' album, on which the original appeared. With recent sad events in mind, I pulled the mp3 off my hard drive and made a short video to post on Youtube. The recording itself is quite primitive. I played lead guitar with an E-bow which is a sound I really liked. It's not a patch on the original, of course, but it was something I did to pass the time one day. 1987. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

The Guy Who Yelled Freebird

This recording came about when my drummer suggested we learn this brilliant song by The Doubleclicks for the jam night. I couldn't get my head around their version for us, so I reimagined it and recorded it. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

There's a heartache following me.
Recorded as a quick run-through at the studio, just to see how it hangs together. 7th July 2022.

The Silence Is Screaming At Me (demo recording)
Co-written with Graham Fielden for The Three's album. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

There's A Hole In My Soul.
Written some time ago and demo'd under the name 'I can't put my finger on it'. Slade's Jim Lea announced a competition that involved guessing what the song title initial TAHIMS stood for. I made a guess and liked the song title I came up with. Not knowing i had got the answer right (as the answer wasn't given out for a while), it sparked off a song. Jim Lea's song didn't get released. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Things we said today.
The Beatles song, re-recorded on 23/24.1.2018. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Ticket to ride.
The Beatles song, re-recorded on 29.1 and 1.2.2018. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Too damn stupid to live.
Another Black Cat Bone compilation CD track. This one was recorded as part of a nice celebration of the work of Black Cat Bone forumite King Feeb. A prolific song writer. Quite off the beaten track. Not like everyone else. Thank God. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

Wait and see.
One of my orginal songs, written at the end of my tenure with The Peppermint Dream. The first thing I did after parting company with the band. Recorded at Soundlab Studio, Bolton. 1982. Produced by Peter Makin. IAN EDMUNDSON - Vocal, guitar, bass, background vocals. PETER MAKIN - Guitar, keyboard, background vocals.

We Are United (demo)
Recording for the Three's album. Co-written with Graham Fielden.
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

We don't want to go home (unreleased version).
This song was on the b-side of the 7" vinyl single I put out as Go Crazy in 1991. The b-side on the single featured a lead vocal by Drew Wood, who went on to sing with a rather good Bolton band called Tresspass. This is the version I had already recorded before Drew came along. It's a rather rough and ready and admittedly lo-fi recording, with what I thought was a good guitar solo, going by my own standards. It hung together nicely and had enough hooks and catchy bits to be a good song. This version only existed on a cassette. This song made it into Go Crazy's live set for a while. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson. 1991.

(Who's got) your attention?
One of my own songs. This song dates from around 1980. Re-recorded during the 1990's. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

(Who's got) your attention?
One of my own songs. This song dates from around 1980. Re-recorded 29th September 2017. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

You don't see it at all.
One of my own songs. I wrote this on a coffee break while recording at Pete Makin's Soundlab studio. I was messing about with a synth keyboard that was set to run up and down arpeggios and the bare bones of this was the result. This is a re-recording of the original idea. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

The Beatless - Rotator

Recorded as a Christmas present for several friends, I think it was in 1983. Peter Makin was running an excellent local recording studio called Soundlab which I later recorded some songs at with The Peppermint Dream. He had advertised for a bassist some time before and I joined the band he was putting together. It turned out to be a band that rehearsed far more than it gigged, but most of the guys in the band were all ok to be around and we quite enjoyed playing together. When that band stopped playing together, Pete and I did an amount of recording for the fun of doing it and over a couple of beers, we decided to re-record a Beatles album. I wanted to do Sergeant Pepper or Rubber Soul, but Pete wasn't really as keen on them as he was on Revolver. I hadn't thought of Revolver as a serious option, as I imagined it would quite certainly have been too ambitious a task to replicate it on a 4-track trape machine. But, going through the tracklisting, song-by-song, we really liked it. We decided it would mean radically re-imagining all of the songs if we wanted to do it. So we did. This is the result of a whole lot of sessions upstairs in Pete's farm cottage, over several months of dark snowy evenings, that year - racing to meet the pre-Christmas deadline. And here are the songs in the original running order..

TAXMAN The superbly bitter George Harrison song that still rings so absolutely true today. We decided straightaway not to follow The Beatles original version note for note, impressive as it was. This was the start of me not doing straight cover versions of songs when recording on my own. Pete programmed the drums and played guitars and sang backing vocals. I played bass and sang lead and backing vocals. I used a Wal Pro 1e bass on these recordings.

ELEANOR RIGBY Yes, we changed the words a bit. we got the original 'Father McCartney' in that they dropped from the song, as they felt it was too spooky. We also changed the words from 'wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door'. Pete played guitar, keyboards and backing vocals. I played bass and sang the lead and a backing vocal. This song made me learn to play a disciplined funky bass part. Pete had this just about finished when I turned up to add my parts, so the credit for the excellent arrangement is all his. He also recorded a really excellent version of 'Across the universe', which wasn't included on this album.

I'M ONLY SLEEPING Lead vocals shared between Pete and myself. Pete plays some pretty cool keyboards and guitars. I think we both did the rather realistic rhythm snores. I played the Jazzy bass that occasionally gets lost! We pretty much made this one up as we went along, as it was one of the last we did to meet the deadline. Well, that's what it sounds like...

LOVE YOU TO George Harrison was introducing some very Indian-influenced arrangements and sounds to his songs for the very first time on Revolver. It would have been impossible to recapture what he did, so we did a huge re-imagining of the song and while it's admittedly a little shaky in places, it turned out nicely. Lead vocal and bass by Ian. Guitars by Pete.

HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE I turned up at Pete's studio one day after work and was stunned to hear this coming down the stairs at me. I didn't get to play bass on this one, as it was pretty much perfect as it was, so this is Pete's solo effort - his Yesterday on the album, if you like... I really do think it's gorgeous.

YELLOW SUBMARINE The Fabs meet Status Quo. I kid you not. Lovely layered backing vocals and twin lead guitars from both of us - Pete does the main solo, which was very much in his style. I think I played some rhythm guitar on this one as well as bass. How to do this song if you feel you have to.

SHE SAID, SHE SAID Pete suggested that I worked on this one by myself one night at his studio, as he had to go out to cope with some emergency on the farm, where he worked during the day. I came up with some rather lumpy half-arsed version of it that I wasn't happy with at all and (quite fortunately) can't find a copy of now. I went home and worked on it in my own studio for the next time we got together. I worked the arrangement out quite carefully and this was the end result. Fab, though I say it myself. There was meant to be a fadeout on the recording, but I've left the twiddling about that I did until the tape ran out audible, as it's fairly interesting.

THE GOOD DAY SUNSHINE CHANT We met up one night to do this song and both muttered about how twee it was and what Paul McCartney should have done instead of writing. This was the result of our messing with the song in an attempt to totally de-construct it for our own evil purposes. We both did guitars and vocals on this. Pete played organ.

AND YOUR BIRD CAN'T SING The Beatles original featured some astonishing guitar work and we lived in sheer dread of learning to play it. I wasn't quite the guitar player that I am now and I'd still worry about it. We sat and pondered what to do with it for some time and got a nice random drum rhythm going and sat and mucked around with it. Once the bass got that sort of swing feel to it, it became a bit clearer what to do. We laughed ourselves silly coming up with ideas of how to totally change it and I'd love to take the credit for coming up with doing it like The Muppets with barbershop choir backing vocals, but I think it was some sort of (ahem) joint decision. There are lots of 'in-jokes' placed through out the recording.

FOR NO-ONE Another of my earliest stabs at playing in a consistently funky bass style. Pete plays nice rhythm and the excellent twin lead guitar breaks on this. I couldn't have come up with a guitar part like that - very tasteful and lots of feel to it. I got lumbered with the lead vocal (I though Pete was going to sing this one) and then had to make up a harmony on the spot to thicken it up a bit.

DOCTOR ROBERT Pete came up with the arrangement on this by himself. His guitar playing is great on this - very fluent. All the vocals are Pete's, too. He's very good at doing harmonies. The bass part was another departure for me - another style I hadn't played before. The whole song just sounds very good, mainly because of Pete's guitars. He has a knack of recording things properly and clearly.

I WANT TO TELL YOU Another George Harrison epic. His three songs really made Revolver work. We dropped the discordant piano that was such a feature of the original and made the beat a lot more regular. Lead vocal, organ and guitars by Pete. His guitar solo at the end makes me wish we'd done a much longer version of the song. Bass by me, naturally.

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE Shared vocals - melody line Pete - harmonies by me. Anguished and constipated moans by Pete. Horn section and bass by me. Sound effects by Pete. Additional percussion (cups and spoons, all put through some sort of space echo pedal) by Pete and Ian. This goes to show that you CAN have fun with a song that Brian Bennett & His Rebel Trousers had a hit with.

TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS Humourous studio chat starts this recording off. We just had such a really good time doing this. Pete plays keyboards and acoustic rhythm guitar. I play the very repetitive guitar figure throughout. Pete also came along with all these sound effects albums with all sorts of things on them, like trains going into stations, phones, bicycle bells and warp noises, birdsong. We reversed the tapes and did all sorts of tricks and could hardly believe the end result. The great thing about listening to all this to write the notes, about 30 years after recording it, is feeling like I'm back in the upstairs side room doing it. Such a fantastic memory of a time when life was so much less complicated.

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Beyond Belief : Extended Play (1985)

This EP was the result of a weekend recording session at Pete Makin's excellent Soundlab Studio.
The band consisted of: Ian Edmundson on bass and vocals, Rob Brown on guitars and vocals,
Rick Pullar on drums, Mike Coulson appears as Simon LeBon.

1    I got a right    (Ian Edmundson)

The opening song was one that I had written some time before and which I had recorded previously with Peter Makin at Soundlab, following a band project that we had worked on together. On the original version, Peter had displayed immense patience and generosity with me, played some guitars and did the answering vocal ("Go without me....") on one of the verses. He reprised that role here and did it excellently .

The good thing for me about this song was that it came together quickly, fully-formed (minor sevenths and all). The arrangement on it has never really changed, although Rob did his own tasteful thing with the solo.

2   Jane   (Ian Edmundson)

This song was hastily written in the gents toilets of a dismal Government office, somewhere in the North West of England in 1981 on a piece of shiny Izal Pine bog roll. I should have it framed. After witnessing the meltdown of one of the girls at work and asking the question, "What's the matter with Jane?", a little lightbulb went off in my head and I departed to come up with the lyrics to this fab little tune.

I also came up with a chord sequence which I wrote down, but upon getting home and commencing work on recording the song, the chords didn't make any sense, so I came up with a new tune and this was the result.

3   Loudest party in Hell   (Ian Edmundson)

My original demo of this (here) was totally bonkers featuring random guitars with effects everywhere and parts played without reference to anything but the drums and after I played it to Rob, he said we should record it as a band.

The version recorded by the band is much more restrained and arranged and (totally at Mike's insistence) had lyrics. I went and sat in Pete's garden outside the studio and cobbled together some '80's disco garbage' words that I thought Mike would refuse to sing, due to their obvious awfulness. However, Mike leapt on them, as he wanted to be Simon Le Bon more than anything else in the world. Rob does some excellent guitar work and Rick plays solid drums and did a vocal overdub on the word 'Hell' on the chorus that we faded off. Rick distuinguished himself by getting totally pissed during the sessions and being violently sick in the farm pond, getting the band a ban from the studio for all time. I used my old faithful Aria ZZB bass with a bit of fuzz added to beef it up.

4    Trouble    (Rob Brown)

A decent little rock song from Rob. It shows off his Mick Ronson - influenced guitar playing very well. The instrumental bridge was contributed to by myself, but the song is all Rob's work.

5    Hard Times    (Rob Brown)

Another fine tune written by Rob. He came along with a great demo for this. He was quite skilled at home recording and his home demos sounded like finished tracks - quite something to live up to. Rob went on to find fame and fortune with the Lost Boys, one of Bolton's finest bands. A quite fantastic guitar solo from Rob. A bit of Run Runaway on bass at the end! That song inspired the beat, so some quite frantic drumming was required from Rick. Despite this being a butch rock song, the vocals sounds a bit fey and New Romantic, but we weighed in with decent backing vox to stop him turning it too camp!

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GO CRAZY

Coz I luv you / We don't want to go home
7" single - Toys In The Attic Records TOY1. 1991

In late 1990, I decided to put together a 7" single, featuring my own recording of Slade's 'Coz I luv you' and Prince's rare b-side 'Gotta stop messin' about'.

I sought the necessary proper written permission via MCPS and the song publishers (Barn / Warner-Chappel) to release my versions of the songs. The permission to release the Slade song came back quite quickly and there were no problems, but the decision not to allow me to record the Prince song was taken by Prince himself and that refusal did not come back with any haste, as he was probably quite busy.

Oh well, he could have made some serious money, but it was his choice to refuse me. I do not really hold it against him that the world was deprived of hearing my take on his rarest release. Holding back the tears at Prince's callous snub, I trawled into the recording studio and set about recording the A-side. It needed to be ready for release in April 1991, for launching at the well-attended Slade 25th anniversary celebrations at Walsall Town Hall. I recorded the song entirely on my own, playing all of the instruments and absolutely everything you can hear on that track is my fault. I think the recording is a decent enough result, though it is one of the things I have recorded that I listen to least these days, as I would do it all quite differently now.

The b-side - 'We don't want to go home' - was a song I had written and kept up my sleeve for a while and when Go Crazy later became a full working band, with additional musicians, we used to play it on stage, along with a more faithful and manageable version of 'Coz I luv you'. I had recorded the song by myself during 1989 and, because I was friends with a local lad called Drew Wood, I was talked around to letting him sing the lead vocal on the b-side of the record. Drew's vocal was taped alongside my original and mine was faded down. With the gift of hindsight, I should really have just let him join in on the backing vocals, as I was funding the whole project myself and I ended up with a b-side that I didn't sing the lead vocal on.

I was in quite a rush to get a b-side together, due to Prince dragging his feet somewhat in getting back to me and that was the best song of my own that I had at the time. It was admittedly a fairly lo-fi recording, but a very spirited performance. It was a song that I had written with Slade in mind and it seemed like a good coupling to me.

We recorded videos for the two songs, which in the case of 'Coz I luv you' involved some friends standing around being honourary Crazies for the day, miming awkwardly in my attic studio and the b-side video was filmed in the back room of a pub. I had booked a village hall with a nice stage and lights to do a performance video, but the person with the keys didn't turn up on the day, much to my annoyance, so we hastily begged a room from the nearby pub and all proceeded to drink a lot, while we were there, so that video got really silly.

The drummer miming the drums in the videos below had a lot of fun at the time, but doesn't want his stage name attaching to any videos he hasn't uploaded himself now, as he considers himself 'a serious blues drummer' and denies his interesting past. I am happy not to credit him with playing on any Go Crazy recording, as he never actually did play on any of them.

The original recording of the b-side song, 'We don't want to go home' with my own vocal:

As said, the record was released to tie in with the Walsall event and Drew and I met with Noddy Holder at Piccadilly Radio in Manchester one day before that, while he was recording his radio show. He sat down and listened carefully to the record and seemed quite impressed with both of the tracks. I noticed him smiling approvingly during the solo of 'Coz I luv you' where certain stereo-panned parts of the arrangement were recorded.

We performed the two songs on the day at Walsall. It sold respectably on the day and then by mail order. It turns up on Ebay every now and again. There are approaching 1000 copies out there.

More info at http://www.45cat.com/record/toy12

Thanks for the memory / Opus #1 for marimba / Wonderful tonight
Cassette EP - Toys In The Attic Records   TOY C2 (1992)

'Thanks for the memory' was a follow up, released on cassette only. I only did this once the vinyl single had broken even and I had recouped my initial outlay, as I was determined to be a business-like Record Company Exec. The song was accompanied by another gloriously silly video, recorded on that session in the pub back room. This was quite a complex song to record and again, everything that you can hear on that rather frantic track is me. The backing vocals at one point go 'Suck my cock, what's up Doc?' and that got it banned from hospital radio.

The second song on the EP was 'Opus #1 for Marimba'. This involved me playing the rather complex marimba parts on keyboard... again and again and again. It was never meant to be performed live. It was the most complex thing I had done so far.

The third song on the cassette EP was a version of Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' with Drew singing. Seeing as studio time wasn't expnsive and production costs were negligible, this song made it onto the EP. I sped the song up and made it slightly more danceable than the rather funereal original. Again, a really silly video was recorded in the pub back room, but this plain illustration will serve, until a transfer is made.

The bangin' man / She did it to me
mp3 download  2005   

By this time, I wasn't working on music with Drew Wood, or any of the other guys who later joined Go Crazy (see them on the CV page). I didn't record these songs with any stage performance in mind, so 'The Bangin' man' was embellished with strings to make it sound a bit more 'classical'. Being two more Slade songs, I decided to use the Go Crazy pesudonym again. This has one of the most strained vocals I've ever done. Slade's Nod had an unmatchable voice when he let rip. 'She did it to me' was one of Slade's more enduring b-side songs that should have been a single at some point, but sadly wasn't. I briefly made both songs available as a limited free download in 2005. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

IN FOR A PENNY
Not badged as a GO CRAZY recording, but anything I record that was originally released by Slade could be called a GO CRAZY recording. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

RUN RUNAWAY
Ian Edmundson does Slade does Big Country. All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

EVERYDAY. The Slade song. Converted from a waltz into 4/4.
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

I'm mee I'm now and that's orl.

Another Slade song and the title spelling is all theirs, too. The b-side of 'Cum on feel the noize' never got a fair airing. It was a better song than a lot and was still relegated to a b-side! It would have made a good album track. Note the deliberate mis-spelling of their mis-spelling on the record label...
All instruments, vocals, arrangement, production and mix by Ian Edmundson.

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Go Crazy - live
Halfway to Paradise (live) Recorded live at Monty's Nighclub, Bury on March 19th 1994.
GO CRAZY: DREW WOOD - VOCALS, IAN EDMUNDSON - BASS GUITAR AND VOCALS, GARY BURNETT - GUITAR.

Jane (live)
One of my own songs. This version recorded live with my band Go Crazy at the Stag's Head, Deane, Bolton in 1992. GO CRAZY: DREW WOOD - VOCALS, IAN EDMUNDSON - BASS GUITAR AND VOCALS, GARY BURNETT - GUITAR.

I should say here and now that I did not co-write this with anyone, though one person did claim to have had a hand in it. He put some backing vocals on the tape and therefore considered himself to be the Lennon to my McCartney. I didn't even know him when I wrote the song. That other version is here.

The Kerbcrawlers / live

Red Lion, Goostrey 2009,
Emerald (with Ian Hutchings) | Red House | Sharp dressed man | Rain |
Black magic woman | Purple Rain | Still got the blues | Get over it | Behind blue eyes

Pudsey, Leeds, 21 November 2009:
I predict a riot | Walkin' by myself | Are you ready? | I saw her standing there 

Fleece, Ashton In Makerfield, 31.12.09
Are you ready? | Get over it!!! | The boys are back in town | Doctor Doctor | 
Emerald | Rosalie | Don't believe a word | Still got the blues

King Eddy, Blackpool - 26th March 10.
Are you ready?

Railway, Bromley Cross, 27.02.10. (Acoustic show)
Get over it  | Learn to fly | Behind blue eyes | Black magic woman |
Need your love so bad | The boys are back in town | Don't believe a word |
29 Palms | Come up and see me | Roadhouse blues | The Flame

Frazer Theatre, Knaresborough - 6.3.10. (Acoustic show, supporting The Quireboys)
Get Over it |  Learn to fly | Behind blue eyes  | Black magic woman |
Need your love so bad | The boys are back in town | Don't believe a word |
29 Palms | Wish you were here | Comfortably numb

The King Eddy, Blackpool - 26.03.10:
Walkin' by myself  | Still got the blues | All right now

Wigan Boulevard, 30.05.2010:
Surfing with the alien  | Are You Ready? | Alright now

The Greenwood, Horwich 17.07.10:
Money | Surfing with the alien

Old Bank, Blackpool, 2010:
Summer of '69 / Hi Ho / Roadhouse medley

Royal Oak, Blackpool 2010:
Walkin' by myself | Surfing with the alien

The Roundhouse, Bolton. 31.12.2010.
Rain | Are you ready? | The boys are back in town | Summer of '69 / Roadhouse blues |
Comfortably numb | Don't believe a word | Still got the blues | Walking by myself

Bar One Ten, Tyldesley 10.11.2018:
Learn to fly

The Banner, Hindley 14.11.2018:
Are you ready? | Sabre Dance

Life After Death

Malpractice
Phil Nolan - vocals, Ian Edmundson - bass / backing vocals, Dave Corlett - drums / backing vocals, Alan Wood - guitar / backing vocals.

Alison - Recorded at Big Unit, Bolton, March 2014. An Elvis Costello masterpiece.

Just what I needed - Recorded at Big Unit, Bolton, March 2014. Our version of the Cars classic

My Sharona - Recorded at Big Unit, Bolton, March 2014. Knackered.
My Sharona Video of the actual recording of the Knack track. Thanks to John Foden for this video.

When you walk in the room - Malpractice Recorded at Big Unit, Bolton, March 2014. Searchers cover.

Whole wide world - Malpractice Recorded at Big Unit, Bolton, March 2014. There is only one Wreckless Eric - This is his song and he is our hero.

Nobody Special / Peppermint Dream

Time for change. Recorded in 1981 with my old band Nobody Special.
Colin Berry on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Ian Edmundson on bass and backing vocals,
Len Miller on lead guitar and sax, Chris Oakes on drums.
Produced by Peter Makin at Soundlab Studio, Bolton. Song written by Colin Berry.

Essentially yours. Recorded in 1981 with my old band Nobody Special.
Colin Berry on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Ian Edmundson on bass and backing vocals,
Len Miller on lead guitar and sax, Chris Oakes on drums.
Produced by Peter Makin at Soundlab Studio, Bolton. Song written by Colin Berry.

But they lied. Recorded in 1981 with my old band Nobody Special.
Colin Berry on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Ian Edmundson on bass and backing vocals,
Len Miller on lead guitar and sax, Chris Oakes on drums.
Produced by Peter Makin at Soundlab Studio, Bolton. Song written by Colin Berry. Edited version.

The Rhythm Jets

Rising Force / live

The Roadrunners:
Silly thing (audio only) Glass Barrel, Tyldesley, Feb 2004.

Wizdom / live